Baidu takes hackathon to Singapore, seeking to tap on talent and possibly expand in Southeast Asia

Chinese search giant Baidu took its Open Cloud Green Living hackathon beyond mainland China’s shores for the first time over the weekend, going to Taipei and, particularly of interest — Singapore. The fact that Singapore was chosen is a clear sign that Baidu is keen on working even closer with the nation to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. Last year, the Chinese company made its first move into Singapore by opening a joint laboratory with the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), which is under Singapore’s government-linked Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). After achieving dominance in the Chinese market, Baidu has turned its focus overseas. Li Mingyuan, the general manager of Baidu Mobile & Cloud Business Group, told TNW that Baidu is starting to see a dearth of talent from the universities in Beijing, where the company has developed rapidly in ...